Brazil once again occupies a negative place in Special Report 301, an annual report released by the United States Department of Commerce (USTR) on Wednesday. The document assesses the level of protection of intellectual property in several countries around the world and is used by the American government in trade negotiations, including the application of economic restrictions. Brazil, as in 2015, is on the Watch List of the document (only worse than the Priority Watch List).

The USTR lists several topics of concern to the United States government about Brazil: protection of copyrights, piracy, patent approval, trademark and drug registrations. "Concerns are with the volume of counterfeiting and piracy in Brazil, including on the internet", highlights the text, in a chapter reserved for Brazil. The text criticizes the work of the National Council Against Piracy of the Ministry of Justice, classified as "underutilized". According to the USTR, the agency has shown good results in previous years, but fell far short in 2015. Regarding patents and trademark registrations, the document says that “the United States remains concerned about the long time it takes to approve patents and trademark registrations. trademarks ”, highlighting the eleven-year deadlines for approving patents and three years for registering trademarks.

The report lists countries where online piracy is commercially robust and massively accessed. And in this team of countries, Brazil is flanked by China, India, Switzerland, Ukraine, Canada and Russia. The theme is even the subject of analysis in the National Congress, where the CPI of Cyber ​​Crimes of the Chamber of Deputies focuses on the subject. Until tomorrow, the commission must vote on the final report with some suggestions for bills, including one that provides for the adoption of the blocking of pirate sites through a judicial decision - a measure adopted in several countries around the world, such as the European Union, and recently supported by a joint letter released by 16 sectorial entities - including the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property, the Brazilian Association of Independent Television Producers and the Brazilian Association for the Production of Audiovisual Works, the Brazilian Institute of Ethical Competition (ETCO) and the Forum National Against Piracy and Illegality (FNCP).

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Source: Jota (28/04)

http://jota.uol.com.br/brasil-mal-colocado-no-combate-pirataria-mostra-relatorio-americano